The Power of Fear

As our country once again lights up in the face of a horrible death, we witness the power of fear. Why are peace officers pulling guns and using what seems to be excessive force? Fear of the unknown. "Is this person packing? Is this going to get physical? Why does this person look so nervous and angry?Am I going to get attacked? How am I going to respond?"

Why are minority folks running away when a law official takes too long checking them out? Fear.  "I don't know this particular cop. I know cops don't like us. He or she is taking too long. Are they calling in help? Is this going to go a way I don't want? I'm getting out of here."

The fear rises from deeper places for many. They are not like us. They don't respect life like us. They don't work like we do. They are strange. They are creepy. I don't understand their culture. They talk different. Their language is not like mine/cool. All these thoughts and more are dry branches for the fear blaze. Laws can't put that fire out. Communities can smother the flames. Families can extinguish flames a life at a time.

Could fear bring someone to break the neck of another? Could fear cause a crowd to break bones and throw terrible objects of pain. Could fear cause a neighborhood watcher to exceed his authority? Could fear energize a teenage young man to fight back when confronted?

The question that haunts me is this, "Why don't people remember the power of fear?" The fact that we can't admit fear and show compassion for those who are in the grip of it seems to be escalating. I'm afraid when I meet a black person that they still are aching from the horrendous treatment my race carried out on theirs. I'm afraid when I meet someone raised in another culture that I will offend them without meaning to. I'm afraid of my own upbringing, for I started life near the end of overt racism. I still know the terms and the attitudes. I don't want to slip and say or think "Boy" for a black man.

How do I deal with these fears? I ask God for courage. I remember that I'm likely to discover an amazing person, if I give myself a chance. I keep in mind that I have dealt with jerks from my own race and time without bad things happening. I try to see that they could be afraid of me as well. (All 5 feet one inch of balding, scarred knees me.)

First Love

I need to remember this morning, so I take you back to North Rome Wesleyan Church in October of 1977. The Robert Ross family found it necessary to take in Sunday PM meetings. I had enough trouble going Sunday mornings. My elementary principal was my Sunday School teacher. Talk about intimidation! The second week we joined Sunday morning worship, I barfed from the emotional distress of changing churches to North Rome.

The unease broadened the longer we attended meetings there in North Rome. Soon I found another being getting after me about my temper tantrums. When I verbally attacked my Mom or my brother, some being outside my thoughts was now shining a light on all that mess. Jealousy was revealed in me. I'm not sure I even was consciously aware of all this, but I'm remembering now.

We sat in the closest section to the outside door that evening. The days had shortened, so it was dark. Pastor Brentlinger was preaching his second sermon of the day. God moved into my life through his words. Being a Christian was about a relationship with a loving heavenly father. I felt a tug, like a gentle hand was turning my face into His. I looked away. All that anger, jealousy and selfishness sat there as well. Christianity was not about being good, but about receiving forgiveness and new life through the Holy Spirit. Those hands turned my shoulders and faced me toward Himself. He pulled me through all the guilt and selfishness. Within minutes, I raised my hand to ask for prayer for that forgiveness and new life.

God had moved into my life. I had never read the Bible period. The next night I was drawn to my Red King James that my Grandma Keeler gave me. As I read through the stories of Jesus' life, the content started syncing with my life. Soon I was pocketing my Gideon New Testament to read on the bus before school, as well as reading at night.

I was too shy to go to youth group, so I went with my parents to prayer meeting on Wed. nights. This was like walking into a Leyden Jar full of power. Folks were praying for neighbors, friends and family members to "get saved." Folks were praying for God's Spirit to move through them and through the church. And it worked! People reported weeks later about sharing Christ with those same friends and they made the same decision I did.

I began to pray for a couple of friends, asking God to give me the chance to tell them about what I was learning and experiencing . . . and God set up those conversations! Thanks to principal Ray Fleming, several of us began praying before school each day. We prayed for our teachers and friends to feel and know the influence of Jesus in their lives. The meeting grew from 4-6 kids to 10-12 kids. I was still quiet, but God was speaking in spite of my quietness. I was still shy, but God put His joy in my face. I could talk to Him as I walked the halls, rode the bus and played basketball with my brother. God stemmed my temper and helped it ebb. God met my deep need for acceptance, so my jealousy withered.

Thank You, Lord for giving me so much to remember. You launched me through Mary Brentlinger and Mick and Cindy Martin and Keith and Karen Crain and Joan and Fred Dinse and Brad and Bea Sink and Glen Lafy and Larry Burke and so many others. What wonderful times I have to look back on! Thank You for that first love you poured into me, even through King James Version words. Thank  You for seeing this wall flower and reaching beneath my camouflage and loving me. Amen.

Disease in the 21st Century

Round two of the spring cold, respiratory infection has got me thinking. As a child of the 70s, I remember that benign uses of radiation would take out most of our germs by now. When ill as a child, the doctor ordered a shot of antibiotic, the nurse delivered it and a day or so later I was up and running. 

Now we are told "super bugs" are growing. These germs have survived the onslaught of nurse shots and are able to withstand humans best efforts to eradicate them. Benign radiation seems as dead as the metric system. And spring colds still knock the stuffing out of us from time to time. 

In my 20's, I don't remember getting sick, except for occasionally food poisoning myself. Then I worked out regularly, walked everywhere and played hours of basketball with teens each week. I would feel a bit weak, take a sweaty nap, and wake feeling much better. Of course that was 30 years ago. My recollections could be out of focus over time. 

So am I advocating anything here? Not this time, just rambling under the influence of influenza. 

Christian Depression

What does Christian depression look like? I'm not interested in arguing whether Christians should or shouldn't experience depression. Neither will I attempt to dig up causes of depression in a Christian's life. All I desire to do is get the shape of depression for one who claims forgiveness for their wrongs through Jesus.

First, Christian depression has a bottom. One of the last questions a person sliding into depression often asks is "Will this be the one I don't come out of?" For the Christian we can know that God can reach us at our deepest point. King David, who shows many signs of depression in his songs, poetically describes God this way, 

"Psalm 139:7-12 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn,if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me,your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, 'Surely the darkness will hide meand the light become night around me,' even the darkness will not be dark to you;the night will shine like the day,for darkness is as light to you." 

Note that as low as I can go and God is there. As dark as my life gets, God is not thrown, but can see right to me. God meets Job at his lowest.  Angels are sent to Jesus in the Garden of despair. With a gentle whisper, God calls to Elijah, who wanted to die. For the Christian, God can be experienced in the black pit of depression.

Second, Christian depression can have a purpose. Those watching their loved one wallow and ache and scratch against tons of negative emotion scream against the meaningless torture. Job's three friends sat with him as his life lay in shambles around him. Every effort they made to put his life back was argued down, as Job was determined to make sense of it himself. The last chapters of the book show God revealing himself in wonder and wisdom. Right after this Job makes this statement, "Job 42:5 My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you." Job's struggles and anguish brought him to the place where God revealed Himself in a profound way. Job's depression was used of God to bring Job to a new connection with him. 

Marriage?

Recently I read an op-ed piece on CNN.com titled "Marriage Apocalypse."Here is the link if you wish to experience it for yourself. http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/07/opinions/costello-marriage-millennials/index.html One of the millennials felt that if she had $20,000, she would rather go to Europe than invest it in a wedding. Well, duh. A $20K Europe trip would be over the top. This got me to thinking. Why  the marriage ceremony? In the comments to this article, folks make the point that the legal benefits of marriage can be obtained through other means (Power of Attorney, living wills, etc . . .).  Living together allows for cleaner legal separations if the relationship sours. Why marriage?

As a Christian, I feel the Bible offers us insight into relationships such as marriage. From Genesis 1 and 2, marriage seems to be invested with deeper meaning. In Genesis 1:26-28 God plans to make humans in His likeness. To do this He needs to make two, a male and a female. When a male and female come together  this somehow represents or displays a God likeness to the rest of the world. Wow!

In Genesis 2, God has created Adam and encouraged him to name all the animals alive at that time. Through this process, Adam realizes that all the other animals have their mates, but He lives alone. God puts him to sleep and does surgery to form the woman. She is given to Adam by God and the two are to become one flesh. This is as deep unity of body, emotions and outlook.

So why is marriage such a mess today? Certainly folks screaming at each other, abusing each other and ignoring one another doesn't show anything about God. A happy couple living together would display God more convincingly. Marriage seems to put too much pressure on the whole thing and cause failures.  And then the pain of divorce and the stigma of failure and the hurt and battle over children. Why can't we just move along from all that?

I agree that a married couple who go after each other nearly constantly is destructive on many levels. I agree that an unmarried living together couple that cares deeply for each other displays God's attributes more convincingly. A piece of paper and expensive ceremony can't make a man and a woman love each other. In fact, Jesus states that in the next existence marriage won't even be on the table. (Mark 12:25) So why get all hung up on marriage?

Because a healthy marriage shows us the power of commitment. When a man and a woman stand before God and witnesses and declare their commitment to each other through sickness and health, richer and poorer till death us do part, they are stating how Jesus is committed to His followers. Marriage is a huge decision, a lifetime one. How many lifetime decisions do you and I make? To marry and to have children, that's about it. Marriage should have the support of both families involved. Marriage should only be entered in purity, so that the union is about more than "good sex." Marriage partners should know the other well. Even then surprises will come from the dear other.

My Dad made such a commitment 52 years ago. For the last 10, my mother has had her brain eaten away by Alzheimer's disease. Dad gets frustrated with her repeating questions. Dad misses the woman he married. Dad aches because she is now so careless, when she previously cared so much. He could just stick her in a home and walk away. Why watch this day after day? Because she is his wife for life. That commitment is golden. Our whole extended family has taken it in. Frankly, his love for my mom is a treasure whose worth is most fully revealed in this last decade.